


Killing Blow

by AnxiousClarinetCat



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Debates Over Dead Avavado, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hugs, Kaede Akamatsu Needs A Hug, Simulation AU, platonic or romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24194854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnxiousClarinetCat/pseuds/AnxiousClarinetCat
Summary: Simulation AU! Kaede wakes up from the killing game and is forced to confront the only other dead classmate she has. (Also known as: I want an Amamatsu fix it fic and if there isn't one, I'll write it myself).
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede & Amami Rantaro, Akamatsu Kaede/Amami Rantaro
Comments: 5
Kudos: 80





	Killing Blow

**Author's Note:**

> I was really sad over V3 again, so I wrote this. Can be read as platonic, romantic, or anything in between. Fun fact, this is the third draft of this concept I've written in the last week. Hope you enjoy!

_Wrong notes crash all around her. Monobears shriek from the audience. Faintly, she hears Kaito roaring, and Shuichi wailing._

_"Kaede! No! No!"_

_Black creeps into her vision. She gasps helplessly as the last horrific chord echoes around the room. Her muscles give in relief._

_Did she just survive an execution? Did they win?_

_There's a creak. Several people scream. She sees something falling out of the corner of her eye._

_Breif, crushing pain. Silence._

Kaede wakes up to more terrible noise. It sounds like the tortured squeal of a dying animal.

It takes her throat burning for her to realize she's the one screaming.

She forces her eyes open. The brightness is blinding. As her vision focuses, she sees dozens upon dozens of tangled wires dug into her arms, her chest, her face.

She struggles against them, but they don't budge. She kicks the side of whatever she's lying in. It looks almost like a coffin.

Kaede weaves a hand towards the suction cups on her face, and yanks. They come free with a pop.

Untangling her body from the massacre takes what feels like hours, though it could have been only a couple minutes for all she knew. When she's finally free, she shoves herself out of the box.

Her knees buckle, and she crumbles to the ground.

Disgruntled, she climbs back to her feet and stumbles towards the only door. It slides open as she goes to push it, and her palms hit empty air.

Kaede shakes her head, and waits for her surroundings to stop wobbling before proceeding out into a eerily long white hallway.

_Is this another killing game?_

She clenches her fists as she walks by over a dozen rooms, each labeled with someone's name.

_'Kaito Momota'_

_'Ryoma Hoshi'_

_'Angie Yonata'_

She bangs on every door, but not a single one opens.

As she reaches the end, one name catches her eye.

_'Rantaro Amami'_

Kaede steps in front of the door and stretches a hand out.

The door slides open with a click. She barges in, a million thoughts on her tongue, and freezes.

The wires are askew, and the casket is empty.

She backs out of the room with a gasp. He's here. Alive. Somehow, Kaede feels much more uneasy knowing this.

Where was she? Where were the others? Was she alive? Was _he?_

There are no facts. Kaede is lost in uncertainty.

Eyes blurring with tears, she runs.

Rooms pass by faster than Kaede bothers to look at them. She shoves open double doors without even slowing down. Every push makes her shoulder hurt more.

When she can't run another step, she collapses in a heap. She swallows sobs because she knows she can't afford to cry. She needs to breathe.

As her heart slows, she lifts her head to see where she is.

There's a huge room up ahead, filled with synthetic light. Kaede pulls herself up, and wanders in.

The light is coming from a giant screen fixed on the wall. She trembles as she realizes what she's watching.

It's the kiling game.

On the television are fourteen smaller boxes, each focusing on one of the living. She sees Tojo curled up in bed. Kokichi and Kaito are screaming at each other. Her heart clenches at the image of Shuichi looking in the mirror, hat held to his chest.

She shudders. If she wasn't mistaken, the game was fake, though everything in it felt so real-

Behind her, footsteps echo. Kaede jumps back to life. It's him. Should she stay? Or would he be happier if he didn't have to see his murderer?

His familiar voice rings off the walls.

"Finally found you. Look, I'm not gonna hurt you. I just want answers." Rantaro's voice cracks, hard. "Why, Tsumugi? Why me?"

Kaede feels her chest set on fire again. _I didn't know. I thought you were the mastermind. I was wrong, and I'm sorry. I'm so-_

"H-Huh? T-Tsumugi?" she croaks.

She feels eyes fall on her, and turns to face him.

He looks exhausted. His hair is messy, and not in a stylish way. He looks like his clothes have been slept in, though with further thought, she realizes hers have been slept in too. Worst of all were his eyes. He was always unreadable, but now, he looks nervous. No, he looks _terrified._

Kaede throws out a hand without thought, and she sees him flinch.

"Wait! I'm not going to hurt you! P-Please! Just talk to me!"

Her heart sinks as she watches Rantaro's eyes water. He whips up a hand to push away the tears before whispering, "Who killed you?"

She gapes. "What do you mean? I was executed, as I should have been!"

Rantaro steps back. "Executed? But, Kaede..." His eyes grow cold. "If this is a cosplay, I'm not impressed!"

She whimpers. What was this? "I'm not Tsumugi! Why do you keep saying that?"

He sneers, but it's half-hearted at best. He looks more betrayed than angry, which only twists the blade buried in her heart.

"You know why. You killed me, Tsumugi. I don't want to play these games, I just want you to be honest!"

Kaede curls in on herself. "I'm not Tsumugi! I'm Kaede Akamatsu, and I murdered you! Why are you so confused?!"

She can see a battle going on inside his head. "You couldn't have."

Tears start pouring down her cheeks, and she cannot stop them. "I did! I d-dropped the shot put ball into the vent, I set the camera, it was me! I was trying to kill the mastermind, but I hit you, a-and!-"

Rantaro blinks unsteadily. "Air vent...? Suddenly, he bolts upright. Kaede shuts her eyes. He knows. He remembers.

"But!" he chokes out. "That didn't hit me! Why are you here?"

She grabs a lock of her blonde hair and twists it frantically. "Didn't hit you? But there was a ball by your body! It had to be me!"

He shakes his head rapidly. "No. No. You don't get it."

Kaede wants to scream. Or cry. She ends up doing both.

"No, _you_ don't get it! You trusted me, and I murdered you! It was an accident, but it happened! You can't pretend it wasn't me!"

Rantaro hold up his hand "Stop."

She can't. "You can't hide from it, Rantaro! I hate it too, but we can't lie anymore! I'm a _monster!"_

_"Stop!"_ He's so loud that her voice dies.

"Now", he states, voice quivering with emotion. "Let me tell you my side, then you can talk again. Alright?"

Kaede stays silent in lieu of an answer.

"I was in the library, yes?"

She nods.

"I saw something flash, and went to investigate it. When I walked over there, a shot put ball landed a couple inches from me. It fell from above. I think that was you.

She gulps. "But then who-?!"

He shoots her a glare, but there's empathy underneath. "Hold on. I jumped back after it fell, and listened for anyone near by. Just as I thought I heard footsteps, something heavy hit me here." He hold a hand to the back of his head, and she winces.

"I turned around faster than anyone should with a fatal head injury", he continues with a broken laugh. "The last person I saw was Tsumugi. She had a bloody ball in her hands."

Kaede shakes. "B-but then, why am I...?"

Rantaro looks her in the eyes. "This may seem crazy, but I think you've been framed."

She shakes her head. "Can't be. The Monokubs would have killed all of us, and we're the only two here."

He raises an eyebrow and mutters, "Not if the culprit was the mastermind."

It makes a twisted sort of sense, but she's not putting her hope in anything yet. "You shouldn't assume that."

He sighs. "Kaede, I understand, but why are you so reluctant to believe me? What's wrong?"

She looks away, and all but whispers her answer. No response, but she feels him walk to her side.

"Please tell me."

His voice is so soft, and so filled with concern and everything else she didn't deserve that sobs force their way out again. 

"Even if I didn't kill you, I c-could have! I'm just as bad as the mastermind!"

Rantaro tenses. "Maybe so. But did you want to kill me?"

She pulls her hands to her chest. "No!"

"Why did you set the trap up, then?"

Kaede squeezes her eyes shut to try and block out the crushing in her chest. "I just wanted to stop the game! If the mastermind was dead, we would all live!"

He chuckles quietly. "That doesn't sound like a monster's motive to me. Sounds like a good person who's plans went wrong."

She swallows thickly. "You're not afraid of me?"

A smile greets her when she has the courage to look at him again. "No. Should I be?"

The kindness has her eyes overflowing again. "No, I don't want you to be..."

He grins, and moves so he's toe to toe with her. "Good. Because I want my Kaede back." He holds out his arms. "Friends?"

It's just too much, and she leaps into his embrace with yet another cry. Rantaro jumps in surprise, but holds her close.

She presses her face to his chest, and cries until she has nothing left in her.

A normal person would have pulled away by now, but she hasn't felt this safe since the game started. Luckily, he didn't seem to mind. In fact, the longer she stays, the tighter his grip gets.

Eventually, she pulls on his collar. "Rantaro, I missed you too, but my legs are tired." It feels like she ran a marathon after not using them in weeks, though she probably hasn't, with all the wires and the casket she was in.

She laughs when he jumps away. "Ah, sorry. People tell me I give weirdly long hugs."

Kaede smiles. "I don't mind! I just...need a rest after all this." Her chipper demeanor falls again.

Rantaro leads her back over to the television. She hadn't noticed somehow, but there was a large and very inviting looking couch in front of it. "We could sit here if you like."

Kaede tumbles onto it with a sigh. "This thing is like a cloud."

He chuckles and falls next to her. "Yeah. I'll probably end up falling asleep." He throws an arm over the back so it rests behind her shoulders. She instinctively curls into his side, but he tenses. She quickly throws herself an acceptable distance away. 

"Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable!"

Rantaro looks over at her. "You didn't. I just wasn't prepared for it." He rubs the back of his neck. "You can, uh, come back over if you want to."

The doubts in the back of her mind keep Kaede right where she is. Somehow, he reads her with seemingly no effort. "I'm not afraid, Kaede."

She moves a little closer, but decides against going back to where she was. "It's okay, I don't want to push boundaries."

His sigh vibrates through the pillows so that she can faintly feel it. "Do you want a hug?" he asks.

Kaede bites her lip. "...Yes."

He puts a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Well, I wouldn't mind one either."

She averts her eyes, but leans into his touch. Slowly, he snakes his arm around her, and pulls her to his side. "Better?"

Kaede presses closer, pressing her cheek to his chest.

_He's right here. He's okay._

"Yeah. Thank you."

On screen, almost all the tributes were asleep, except for Angie, who appeared to be praying.

Kaede tries to keep an eye on her friends, but the silence of the room coupled with the sound of Rantaro's heartbeat lulls her to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> These kids deserved so much betterrrr.


End file.
